ORCA
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CRITIC REVIEWS
80
By dropping his guard, Dapperton has reinvented his usual slacker-pop to accommodate his raw emotions.
70
An artist stepping up musically, while also finding strength in his vulnerability.
70
Taking listeners in a new direction on his second full-length outing, Orca sees Gus Dapperton tackle strong themes of mental health struggles and finding acceptance in his most transparent and honest piece of work yet.
60
Like a fleeting Tik Tok video, Orca may be enjoyable in the moment, but it doesn’t have staying power.
59
This is a pleasant, breezy album, perhaps not intentionally.
53
The Brooklyn songwriter’s self-produced second LP is an introduction to the psyche beneath the quirky bowl cut. But its self-imposed pop formulas and strained symbolism reveal little.
50
While Orca is bleaker and more depressing than Dapperton's previous work, it's emotionally hollow, with moments of both joy and despair only suggesting the outline of feelings they can't quite communicate.
What does it mean to be original?
It’s creating your own sound, utilizing that sound in a creative way, and presenting yourself as a new artist in the music scene. It’s being unique for the sake of doing what you want. For some reason, Gus Dapperton doesn’t fit any of this criteria, yet still makes his way into many a summer soundtrack.
His newest venture, I’ll admit, is a bit more fleshed-out than his debut record, which meandered into nothingness the more it played. ... read more
The biggest sin this album commits is that it's not very original at all but c'mon, there's some really good material here, some of the production is quite listenable and really pleasant, Gus's vocals are very good whenever they don't sound annoying or grating, the whole vibe of this record is quite catchy and there's plenty of really good songwriting moments from him, in particular the track Medicine. With a little more drive and a lot more originality Gus could go a long way.
Best Tracks: ... read more
with his quirky edge and clever songwriting, dapperton releases a mediocre project in ‘orca’.
overall, this is an okay successor to polly people, and still a disappointment compared to his ‘yellow and such’ era.
gus’ signature raspy, clean performances are impressive. the production is crisp; it’s all pretty good...just bland.
the final half of “medicine” is tragically emotional, and the album ends strong with “swan song”.
if the ... read more
As far as pop albums go, this one is actually pretty enjoyable. The first half of the album is really quite solid - with First Aid and Post Humorous being standout tracks (the final chorus of Post Humorous is heavenly). It gets a bit bland and predictable in the second half, but as an overall release, this isn't too shabby!
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Track List
- Bottle Opener
- First Aid
- Post Humorous
- Bluebird
- Palms
- My Say So (feat. Chela)
- Grim
- Antidote
- Medicine
- Swan Song
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Added on: July 5, 2020